Amy Wilder is a private pilot with more than two decades of experience as a writer and editor in a career spanning journalism, marketing, and communications. 
She has worked in aviation journalism since 2023, combining a lifelong passion for flight and a love of the aviation community with a penchant for storytelling. As a licensed pilot, she brings firsthand insight to the stories she covers, lending an authentic, on-the-ground perspective to industry coverage.
She holds a Master of Arts in Eastern Classics and a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts, both from St. John&#039;s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Culture.

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Amy Wilder

Pilatus Aircraft launched a 32-month study with Swiss institutions to investigate whether carbon fiber production waste can be recycled directly back into the aircraft construction process. The Swiss aircraft manufacturer produces more than six tonnes of carbon fiber waste annually from cutting “prepreg” material—carbon fiber web pre-impregnated with synthetic resin—during component production.&nbsp;
Recycling the material could significantly reduce production waste and potentially replace certain aluminum parts with carbon components, generating savings of up to 36 tonnes of aluminum per year, according to Pilatus.
The study will investigate a novel approach that heats sticky prepreg scraps in a controlled manner, causing them to lose their adhesive qualities and allowing further processing by machine. Then the material is cut into small pieces and transformed into new components using a special pressing process before being hardened. No established industrial method currently exists in aviation for directly transforming unused prepreg waste into new components.
Pilatus is partnering with researchers at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Inspire AG, a strategic partner of ETH Zurich, on the project.
Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse is providing funding for the project. “The fact that Innosuisse chose to allocate a substantial financial contribution to the study is a reflection of its ecological, economic, and technological relevance,” said Urs Thomann, director of technologies, processes, and sustainability at Pilatus.

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